


hypothetical

by violetswrites



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Pre-Relationship, but there are definite romantic undertones, post-episode 2x07: face value, sad with a hopeful & happy ending, technically Ainsley is only mentioned and not present, though I suppose it could be read as platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29837376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetswrites/pseuds/violetswrites
Summary: a little post-2x07 episode one-shot in which Dani checks up on Malcolm and finds him after the blowout with Ainsley, presents him with a hypothetical scenario, and reminds him that he's a good person.
Relationships: Malcolm Bright & Dani Powell, Malcolm Bright/Dani Powell
Comments: 5
Kudos: 128





	hypothetical

**Author's Note:**

> this assumes that Dani has pieced what happened to Endicott together because, let's be honest, she has enough information to make a very good educated guess and while this does present Dani as having a more measured reaction to the Endicott Affair than we might expect, I don't think that it's entirely out of the realm of possibilities, especially with the "don't let her drag you down/what if she already has" moment in the episode and with how concerned she's been lately.
> 
> also, I choose to believe that Dani's father taught her how to play chess and not only does she enjoy it, she's really good at it.

Dani unlocked the door, about to call out for Bright when she saw him sitting on the stairs, his eyes closed, and his head in his hands. The moment she pushed the door closed, his head shot up and his eyes widened in shock.

“How— how did you get in?”

“Gil gave me his emergency key.” She moved to sit down next to him, “I wanted to know that you were alright, I was… I am really worried about you.”

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, and Dani took in his features; his hair looked unruly, falling out from where it had previously been slicked down, likely from him repeatedly running his hands through it in frustration, his usually brilliant blue eyes were dull, puffy, and red-rimmed, he was sniffing his nose, and his voice sounded rough which meant he had likely been yelling as well as crying. He bowed his head, eyes boring into the floor, and they sat there in silence, Sunshine's occasional movements the only noise in the apartment.

“She said I was just like our father.” 

He spoke so quietly, and sounded so, so anguished and heartbroken, it felt like someone had reached into her chest and was slowly squeezing the life out of her heart. The “she” in question could only be one person and if her theory was correct, that meant that Ainsley, even after her brother had sacrificed everything for her, had the nerve to tell him that he was like Dr. Whitly. Dani was silently seething.

“Have you killed twenty-three people?”

He whipped his head to her, “What?”

“Just answer the question. Have you killed twenty-three people?” 

“No Dani, obviously I have not killed twenty-three people.” 

“How about twenty people?”

“No.”

“Ten people?”

He sighed, exasperated, “Seriously?”

“Five people?”

“Dani, what—”

“Malcolm, have you ever killed anyone?”

“No, but—”

“Then you are not like him!” She nearly shouted before taking a deep breath and continuing, “No matter what you’ve done, you’re not a killer Malcolm. I know you, you’re a good person, you are nothing like The Surgeon.”

He felt his mouth fall open and tears begin to burn behind his eyes, the sincerity written all over her face overwhelming him. He had been lying to her for the past few months and she still thought he was good. It wasn't logical, it didn’t make sense.

“You don’t know what I’ve done. You know I’ve been lying to you, but you don’t really know what I’ve done and once you do, you’ll hate me, you’ll never speak to me again.”

Her lips quirked into a sad smile and she took his trembling hand, “Malcolm,” her voice was gentle, almost as though she was talking to a spooked animal, “can I lay out a hypothetical scenario for you?” 

He hesitantly nodded.

“Let’s say, hypothetically, Ainsley is the reason Endicott is gone.” The color drained from his face and he could feel himself beginning to panic when he felt her squeeze his hand, bringing his focus back to her.

“This is all hypothetical, Bright. Let me lay it out before you run or hide from me, okay?” 

He nodded again and she continued.

“Okay, so let’s say that hypothetically, Ainsley is the reason Endicott is gone and hypothetically you were a witness to what happened. If I were to venture a guess about her motive in this hypothetical situation, I’d say that he was threatening her or you or your mother to the point where Ainsley snapped and killed him. If you were indeed a witness to this completely hypothetical crime, I know you’d protect your sister at all costs, you’d even help her cover up whatever it is she might’ve done.”

Malcolm looked at Dani, searching her face for anger or disappointment and instead found only concern and something that almost looked like tenderness.

“So, if after all of that, if after you hypothetically made sure that she got away with murder and were forced to lie to everyone you care about for months on end, slowly feeling guiltier by the day, if after all that she has the nerve to tell you that you’re like Dr. Whitly, she is wrong and she is being incredibly cruel.”

“Dani, what if she isn’t? I don’t even know who I am anymore. I can’t recognize me. All I see is that night and all the blood and the gore and… him.” 

He looked so defeated, so destroyed, so utterly broken down and it hurt her so much. She should be furious, and she found that she was, but not at him.

He was right, she should hate him for lying to her, for keeping this from her but for some reason, after everything he had said today, after all the veiled references to seeing himself as a monster, after watching him slowly suffocated by his own guilt, she wasn’t angry, she was just heartbroken for him. He had lived with this crushing secret for months, with the trauma of witnessing Ainsley kill a man, with the decision he made to cover it up for her, but he had done it nonetheless because it was his sister, because he couldn't lose one of the few loved ones he had, because she was family. He had sacrificed everything, everything to protect his baby sister and after all that, Ainsley had looked him in the eyes and told him that he was just like The Surgeon. 

So yeah, Dani was furious, but not at him. 

Malcolm Bright was the first friend she had had in years and he was so kind and so caring and so… bright and yes, he had some exasperating qualities but he was not he nor would he ever be anything like The Surgeon. They fell back into silence again as she looked for the words to communicate all the grief and frustration and sympathy and love that she felt for the brilliant, dorky, self-sacrificing, endearingly absurd man beside her while she laced their hands together and began to run her thumb across his knuckles.

“Dani,” he murmured, “what did I do? What did I do to make her think that I was like him? I just wanted to protect her. She’s my baby sister Dani, I just wanted to keep her safe.” 

He sounded so pained and her heart broke all over again.

“All I was trying to do was keep her safe.” 

When he finally looked at her, she noticed how cloudy his beautiful blue eyes were, how sad, how exhausted, how desperate he looked. So she squeezed his hand even tighter, reaching out to brush her thumb across his cheekbone catching a stray tear that had begun to fall.

“Malcolm Bright, you are the best person I know.”

His breath hitched and his jaw dropped in shock, he never thought he’d hear those words again, he never thought he'd deserve to, and he still wasn't sure that he did. He wasn't sure how she could look at him and see someone worthy of a statement like that.

“You are, Bright. You had to turn in your own father because you found out that he was a cold-blooded killer, you had to hear the whispers of everyone around you saying that the only thing you’d ever amount to was being The Surgeon’s prodigal son, you’ve spent your whole life trying to do enough good to atone for the sins of your father, and you did all of that because you are a good person.”

He stared at her in disbelief as her lips curled into a sly smile, “Granted, you’re infuriating as hell to work with because you’re a self-sacrificing idiot who runs into dangerous situations with absolutely no backup, but you’re still a good person.”

She heard a huff of laughter escape him and saw the ghost of a smile flit across his lips.

“Malcolm,” she continued, her voice firm, “you are a good person who made a choice to protect your family. Was it a good choice? No, not only was it bad, it was illegal. But, I understand why you did it and strange as it may sound, I think your heart was in the right place.”

He considered her words for a moment before speaking, “So then what do we do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well you put together all the pieces of the hypothetical puzzle.”

“So?” He seemed confused so she continued, “It’s not like there’s any evidence.”

“Then where do we go from here?”

Now she was the one that was confused, “What do you mean?”

He looked at her, then the floor, then back at her again, “I broke your trust, Dani. You asked me time and again what was wrong and if you could help and I brushed you off.”

“Yeah, you did. But I think a cup of tea, few games of chess, and maybe a movie on that absurdly large TV of yours are all good first steps to make in earning it back.”

He shook his head and furrowed his brow, “Dani, you should hate me, you should be furious with me, why aren’t you?”

“Because right now you’re hurting and you need a friend.” She said it so matter-of-factly it left no room for argument. 

Well, almost no room.

“We’re friends?” He sounded as incredulous now as he had that night a lifetime ago, but this time her reply had changed.

“Yes, we are. Now, about that tea?”

“Oh! I just picked up a new blend of Earl Grey from that tea shop we love,” Bright’s lips lifted in a small smile, “shall we?”

She nodded as they got up from the stairs and made their way over to the kitchen, only disentangling their hands when she went to fill the kettle and he opened the box of loose leaf tea. While the water boiled, Dani wandered over to open Sunshine’s cage and play with her and as Malcolm watched them from the counter he felt something inside of him settle as some of the weight resting on his shoulders lifted.

Nothing was perfect, not by a long shot, but maybe, just maybe, things would be okay.


End file.
